Recorders/readers using magnetic tape cassettes (referred to herein as "recorders") are known per se and are usually provided with a system for putting the cassette into place so as to put the hub of each reel into position relative to the corresponding drive wheel, while still enabling the cassette to be inserted and removed. Such prior systems comprise a receptacle which is complementary in shape to the shape of the cassette and which has an opening through which the cassette is inserted, together with a mechanism for displacing the receptacle between an inactive position (unloaded) and an active position (loaded), and presser means suitable for applying an axial force on each reel hub so as to maintain the hub in abutment against a drive wheel and prevent any relative axial displacement between the hub and the wheel.
Presser means are known making use of a resilient tongue having one end fixed to the receptacle and having its other end bearing against the hub of the reel.
These prior means are relatively ineffective (relatively little force is exerted) and they are fragile, particularly since they project from the plane of a face of the receptacle. In addition, they require the use of cassettes which are special in structure.
These defects are even less acceptable when the recorder is required to operate in a severe environment.
A first object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks and provide a coupling suitable for axially locking a reel of a tape cassette reliably on the drive wheel of a recorder/reader.